


One Last Time

by emjellybean



Category: Until Dawn (Video Game)
Genre: Angst, Hinted Character Death, M/M, Not Happy, Very bittersweet with an emphasis on bitter and a lack of sweet
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-14
Updated: 2015-09-14
Packaged: 2018-04-20 16:42:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,037
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4794755
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/emjellybean/pseuds/emjellybean
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Filled with guilt over what happened, Chris goes back to the mountain in hopes of finding Josh.</p>
            </blockquote>





	One Last Time

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this in like an hour because I was randomly like, "Oh, shit! I should write that!" and it probably sucks, especially the ending, but hey, I tried. I just love Chris and Josh so much, together and individually as characters that I couldn't help myself. Hope you guys like it at least a little bit.

Chris had gotten out safely along with all the others. Sam, Mike, Emily, Ashley, Matt, and Jess…they’d all gotten out alive. He didn’t know who, but someone told some ‘professionals’ to go into the mines, see what they’d found there and do something, anything about it if they could. If they couldn’t, well, at least someone else would know about the horrible creatures that lurk on the mountain.

Of course Chris still hadn’t gotten over anything; it hadn’t been nearly enough time only having been several days later. He thought about all the things he saw. He thought about the man who had died right in front of his eyes; the man who was trying to save them. He still felt completely responsible for it.

But most of all he couldn’t stop thinking about Josh. His best friend, the man he felt he let down the most…he hadn’t seen him since before the Wendigo got him. He was never found. They said they would keep searching, but he didn’t think they would ever find him. He felt that if only he hadn’t gone against Josh, if only he hadn’t gotten their only hope killed…maybe they would have found Josh earlier and he could have been rescued with the rest of them. He could have gotten the help he needed. But no, he followed Mike. He listened to the stupid things Josh said and let it fuel him to get even angrier and then he left him with Mike. Chris should have been there. He should have stayed by his side even if he got him killed.

These thoughts kept eating at him. He could barely sleep because of it. He couldn’t―wouldn’t go through his everyday life trying to pretend that everything was okay because it wasn’t. And because he’s stupid and he makes bad decisions, not even a month later he found himself going back to the mountain by himself, not having told anyone he was going there. He knew they would only try to get him not to go, or force him not to. They would say he’s an idiot and he would say, “I know”. 

But he let Josh down, so it was his responsibility to at least try to find him.

He needed to find him. Whether he was perfectly fine, barely living, or skinned alive and ripped apart, eaten by the Wendigo, he would find him. 

So he went to the mines, where he thought he would have the best chance at finding him. He was scared, terrified in fact, but somehow his nightmares felt no different than what he was living now. The quiet brought shivers down his spine and darkness only made his imagination fill in the blanks. He walked slowly, but with purpose in the quiet mines, nothing around him as far as he could tell, not even a Wendigo. It was dark, but he used his phone light to see only a small area in front of himself, so he knew where he was going. Occasionally his phone would buzz with a text or a phone call and he would ignore it. The only thing on his mind was Josh. 

He searched a long time, only glad he hadn’t been killed by some horrible creature or his own stupidity. He almost felt like giving up, but then he heard the first noise that sounded like something other than the animals that lived there. One part of him was ecstatic, his desires almost completely clouding the logical part of his mind. What if it was Josh? The small part of him that wasn’t so optimistic turned to one of the worst scenarios: a Wendigo, one that wouldn’t even give him a chance to fight back before it tore him apart. He gulped and started to walk towards the noise, slowly as to not alert anything or anyone. He got closer and closer, seeing a figure hunched over slightly, crouched on the ground. He shined the light towards it and saw it more clearly now. As he walked a little closer, he saw that Josh’s clothing was covering the figure. He started walking quicker, finding himself slightly more anxious now. “Josh?” He asked quietly. It was Josh. His Josh. It had to be him. It could only be him. He wouldn’t mistake anyone else for Josh. “Josh!” He called as he rushed towards the figure, only to stop when it turned around.

Chris looked at it with wide eyes. “No…”

It looked like Josh. Its eyes were the same color, its face with the same familiar features, but disfigured. Pointy, sharp teeth shown from its mouth, flesh still hanging from its last victim. It had cuts and blood all over itself, a meaner and more hostile expression on its face. It was the first time in his life Chris had honestly felt afraid of Josh, but not as afraid as he thought he might have. He’d dreamt it plenty of times; finding Josh as a Wendigo and watching him as he slowly ripped him apart, feeling every bit of it, even as he woke up. In those dreams he was nothing, but terrified. Now, though, the second he saw him, he felt like everything stopped. His only fear was the pain he knew he was going to feel. The rest of his emotions were…complicated. He felt heartbroken. He felt like he, and he alone, had caused this to happen. Whether it was true or not didn’t matter. He felt like he had lost the most important thing to him and now that most important thing was crushed, shattered like fragile glass and turned into something it, no…he was never meant to be.

Even though Chris knew he wasn’t making it out alive, there was a slight feeling of satisfaction behind the despair. After all, he had found what he was looking for and whether he liked it or not, he was facing the mistakes he’d made. He was facing someone he loved one last time. Josh wasn’t actually himself, that was true, but in the short moment before the inevitable he had heard Josh’s voice say his name and at that point…he stopped caring.


End file.
